Chair-back mounting



March 4, 1958 B. F. HAMILTON I 2,825,394

v CHAIR-BACK MOUNTING Filed April 6, 1953 zir Him

United States Patent-O ice to Hamilton'Manufacturing Corporation, Columbus, Inch, a corporation of Indiana Application April 6, 1953,. Serial No. 346,919

2'Claims; (Cl.- 155- 196) This invention relates'to a chair or'lik e" article of furni ture, and more particularly to an improved means for rigidly supporting a chair-back from a chair-seat.

Itis an object of this invention to produce a mounting for a back of a chair which-will be sturdy and rigid-in use, which is attractive in appearance, and which requires no visible fastening means. Another object is to produce a mounting by which a back maybe readily assembled in a. chair by a non-skilled buyer after delivery of the chair in a knock-down condition. A further objectvisto pro- -vide a-back which is adapted for mounting-by means extending into back-holding engagement interiorly of .an assemblecl back-frame and cushion without disassembly thereof. A stilltfurther object is. to produce a mounting which will be capable of supporting the back from the chair-arms alone'and which will be especially adapted for construction from economical sheet-metal and tubularmetal stockQ These'and other objects. will become apparent as the description is understood.

' In carrying out my invention in its preferred form, I

support theback entirely from the'rear ends' of chairarms. Conveniently, the back includes a sheet-metal back-pan having a forwardly projecting peripheral flange which engages a rigid pad-support and holds it spaced from the pan against the force exerted by screws or other means holding the pan and pad-support in assembled condition. Near each side, the pan is provided with a vertical slot the edges of which are desirably reinforced. The rear ends of the chair arms are formed to extend inwardly across the rear surface of the back pan to the slots and forwardly through the slots and terminate in short lips which extend inwardly of the back along the front face of the back pan. Conveniently, each arm is formed of metal tubing bent to provide a lower horizontal portion adapted to extend forwardly along and be secured to one side of the seat, an upwardly extending intermediate portion, and an upper horizontal portion the rear end of which is collapsed for engagement with and connection to the back-pan. In assembling the chair, the lips on the ends of the arms are inserted through the slots before the arms are attached to the chair-seat, and the arms are then swung toward each other and secured to the chairseat. The arrangement is desirably such that the lips, by engaging the front surface of the back-pan slightly before the arms have been swung to final positions, will introduce stresses in the metal of the arms and back-pan as the arms are drawn into final position by the means which secures them to the seat.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a chair embodying my preferred back-mount construction;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the chair-back;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the upper portion of the chair-arm, taken on the lines 4-4 of Fig. 3.

The chair illustrated comprises a seat 10, conveniently in the form of a sheet-metal stamping, having a depend- 2,825,394 latented Mar. 4,

2 ing peripheral flange 12 to which are secured the chairsupporting legs 14. In the preferred construction, the Iegs'14 are end portions of tubular leg-forming members of inverted U-shape having intermediate, horizontal portions 15 extending along the flange 12 of the sides of the seat.

Carried by the chair in a manner yet to be described is a chair back 20, desirably comprising a sheet-metal backpan 22 transversely extending across the rear of the back and having a f orwardly-projecting peripheral flange 24. Such' flange 24 both stitfens the back-pan 22 and provides spacer means against which is clamped a rigid padsupport 26, in spaced relation to said back-pan. Means such'as' screws 28 extending between the back-pan 22 and the pad-support 26 hold them assembled, with a layer of padding 30 forwardly overlying the pad-support 26 and tucked in peripherally between the support 26 and the pan-flange 24 which it embraces.

Desirably, the padding 30 is outwardly faced with a sheet of flexible material, such as the plastic sheet 32. D'esirably also, the pad-support 26 has a rearwardly-directed. peripheral flange 34 which annularly overlies the forward portion of the pan-flange 24, the. pad-support flange 26 being of a radius larger than. that of the backpan flange 24. an amount somewhat less than the normal thickness of the sheet of padding 30 tucked between them, the snug fit thereby obtained as the flanges 2434 are t'elescoped: by tightening the screws 28 adding to appearance and rigidity of the assembly, and tautness' of the padding 30 and facing 32.

Near each side of the back-pan 22;, it is provided with a vertically elongated slot 36, the edgesof which are desirably stiffened by a. stiffener plate 38 secured as by spot-welds or rivets 40 to; the front surface of the backpan Lcontemplate that the above-describedassembly of padding 30, plastic sheet 32, pad-support 26, and backpan 22, with the latters stiffening-plate 38, be done by the manufacturer; for mounting means yet to be described permit the chair-arms 44 to rigidly support the back by extending interiorly into and in tight back-holding engagement with such above-described back-assembly without disassembly thereof.

Such chair arms 44 are desirably formed of metal tubing, each being of a generally C-shape. The lower stretch 46 of each arm 44 extends fore-and-aft along the seat sidewall 12, or more specifically in the embodiment shown along the horizontal intermediate stretch 15 of the legforming member, to be secured thereto by screws 48. In such an arrangement, the tubing of the arm-stretch 46 may be collapsed and formed in cross-section to fit against the leg member. The intermediate, vertical stretch 50 of the chair arm rises to an elevation at which a chair arm-rest is norm-ally carried, and at such elevation is turned rearwardly to form an upper rearwardly-extending horizontal stretch 52 which serves as an arm-rest for a chair occupant.

At the rear of the upper stretch 52, the metal tubing is collapsed, and is bent horizontally inwardly of the upper stretch 52 to provide a laterally extending tongue 54; and by means new to be described, the tongues 54 inwardly extending from the right-hand and left-hand chair arms 44 in a general co-axial fashion are adapted to engage the chair-back 22 to firmly hold the back in its position on the chair.

The flattened portion of tongue 54 immediately adjacent the rear of the chair arm stretch 52, such tongue portion identified herein as a first portion 58, is of a length at least as great as the distance of the back 20 outwardly of the back-pan slot 36. Inwardly of the first portion 58, the tongue is extended forwardly to form a second portion 60 for passing through the back-pan slot 36, and at the forward end of such second portion 60 -Im iQn. nl nne ionzbetween t e'a svand ba k h winevbfl s- I ifie b e m are atta lt the i p a t m ned, fin genien f it e-armr-stret hes t e t e i t ed ate st h 519i he leg-stormin f p 7, hem being 'swingableforwardly andtowardeach other a s m mb rt A 'a' sul 'Wh f t e f$ QWl$i l Tq tighten wi lg a en 1 9 he in n a Port o w be l lt will bjefinoted that the tubular members hereinbefore previously refierred to, it would be, desirable for'the lower stretches 146 to extend wellforwardly along the sides of the seat; Byv forming themto extend as far forwardly 'as they do ,it is possible to; provide at each side of the chair a single, low-cost memberwhich, in addition. to sup- 7 porting the back,rwill alsoserve as an' arm for the chair.

Although I have described a ,specifictembodiment of tions ofthe example. herein chosenfor purposes of dis: a

' down which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the appended claims a a v ;Ipclaim as my invention: t J l a t V 1.- 'In a chair. havingabase .including'aseat'a back,

7 "and amimembers; each ofsaid members being of a general. U-shapelto provide upper and lower horizontal port- V to. t 1rdtgnshc-nqrfionpn ia.Q. 62 generally parallel to the tongue first-portion 58.

"t rou z rs g 3 1 24 19 hash-Rai esQmkeq iqe V Ftically stressed, anda firm: support for=tlie back provided.

l ns and, a t me ia e 'p ttismi.tineansindamninr wardly' from the forward ends of the lower horizontalpob V tions and the upperhorizontal'portions projecting rear-' wardly, said baekrincludingza-gigid sheet-metal pan hav-fl, 1 ing a vertically extending slot spaqeid inwardlylfromeach V Y of its sides, '-the;- rear' cnds fof*said supper. horizontal.

stretches.beingbent;to provide tongnesghaving"body poij at face; of x said baelcpamtheinner.endsof"saidtongueshavingior- 'wardly offset extensions'proje'ting throughssaid slot's gand 5 b tions exten ing; tqwarq; eashi other. along;

engagin'g the front face of, saidbaelg pan, saidarmmem 7 about said slots asaxes', saidjpngueibodies' and extensions 1 serving by their engagement respectively with 'ithe rear 7;

and front faces of said back pan to limit said inward 'swinig- 1 n Q LE Q 2am; me b ship. n i ns; whcrea irdis a w l my invention I intend to cover all. changes. and modifica- 1 members. a 2. A chaiifras set forthjn claim ;1.with theadditionthat; said back includes; a pad support -;overly in-g,;the frontface'of the back panandsecured-thereto, said paid sup-Q b twe n them sl r hanthawi tlw a d ba ma d; p n m n a ti q fizmcfih 'am: memb rs. in.- Wardly bey s c po ition tc n od e e a t tra n port being spaced from the back pan iirythej vicinity of said slot to-permit insertion ofthe extensions into the slots. 7

' 'Rti m n ermittent smitte 2,306,879 i IHamilton et 2,4s7;294 wo s 2,572,591 Bddth join: 23' 

